There was “no privatisation by stealth’’ of publicly run nursing homes, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil.

He told Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin he was "well aware of the age and structure of many of the older public homes around the country, which have evolved from county homes into other structures such as we have today''.

Mr Martin had claimed 21 of the biggest publicly run homes were now at risk of closure due to a lack of investment by the State to enable them comply with Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) standards.

It was alarming, he said, that no funding had been provided in this year’s estimates to bring them up to standard. “They span 14 counties, six in Cork alone,’’ he added.

Mr Martin said unless standards were met by July, or there was some indication of a real commitment to meet those standards, the options were closure, a significant reduction in beds, or closure of high-acute or high-dependency units.

Mr Kenny said nurses and personnel who worked in the public homes for so many years gave wonderful service in systems that were inadequate today but served a purpose over many years.

Hiqa had clearly said discussions under way between the HSE and itself arose from public units around the country currently registered but due for deregistration this year or next year.

“Hiqa had indicated a number of these facilities do not fully meet the standards one would expect in a modern nursing home,’’ Mr Kenny added.

“That is not surprising, given that the age of some of them is in excess of 100 years.’’

In past years, he said, the HSE’s capital programme had, within the resources available to it, brought a number of the public long-stay units to full infrastructural standards as required by Hiqa, and there would be further investment in the future.

Last year, €36 million was allocated in the capital plan for the continued upgrade of public residential facilities and €122.34 million for the period ahead, Mr Kenny added.